Rooted in Discipline
ENCO · Environmental Combat
ENCO (Environmental Combat) is a reality-based self-protection system developed from over 25 years of martial arts practice combined with 15 years of professional security and close-protection work—from door work to bodyguarding high-profile individuals and touring acts.
Created by the founder of ENCO Environmental Combat, ENCO is not a sport, not a traditional martial art, and not a technique-collection. It is a context-driven system focused on how violence actually unfolds in real environments.
Training prioritises:
Environmental awareness and positioning
Decision-making under pressure
Managing chaos, stress, and unpredictability
Practical movement over stylised technique
ENCO is delivered through 3-day intensive certified courses, structured across four progressive levels.
Level 1 establishes the foundations; Level 2 focuses on instructor development, with advanced levels reserved for continued progression.
ENCO is designed for professionals, coaches, and serious civilians seeking functional, experience-based self-protection—taught with clarity, restraint, and zero theatrics.
Our Philosophy
Experience Matters
Colin Byrne · ENCO Founder
Colin Byrne is the founder of ENCO – Environmental Combat, a reality-based self-protection system built from extensive frontline experience rather than theory or sport.
For over 15 years, Colin worked on the doors in Dublin city, dealing directly with hundreds of real-world violent incidents. Night after night exposure to disorder, aggression, and unpredictability allowed clear patterns of violence to emerge—how confrontations begin, escalate, and resolve in uncontrolled environments. These observations form a core pillar of the ENCO system.
Alongside door work, Colin operated in close protection and surveillance, providing security for high-profile individuals and organisations, including Madonna, U2, and senior leadership within international pharmaceutical companies. This work demanded discretion, threat assessment, movement planning, and calm decision-making under pressure—skills that directly inform ENCO’s methodology.
Colin has also worked in a training capacity, teaching arrest and restraint principles to elements of the United States Marine Corps, further refining his approach to control, compliance, and proportional response within professional frameworks.
ENCO is the consolidation of this experience: a system focused on environmental awareness, behavioural cues, decision-making, and functional action, designed for professionals, instructors, and serious civilians seeking self-protection grounded in reality—not performance or tradition.
Courses
ENCO LEVEL 1
The Psychology of Pre-Contact Violence
ENCO Level 1 is not about fighting.
It is about interrupting violence before it becomes physical.
This level focuses on understanding how most real-world violence actually develops—long before the first strike—and training the ability to recognise, manage, and exit these situations early.
Level 1 teaches the psychological stages that precede violence, moving from knowing something is wrong to understanding what is happening, and then taking calm, deliberate action to prevent escalation.
Participants learn to:
Recognise behavioural patterns that precede attacks
Understand the “interview” phase of violence, where compliance and confidence are tested
Use acknowledgement without submission to remove an aggressor’s certainty
Control space, direction, and environment without force
Manage ego and significance to avoid escalation
Exit safely before initiation occurs
The core ENCO model follows a clear progression:
Knowing → Understanding → Acknowledgement → Control → Exit
Level 1 develops behavioural intelligence, not techniques.
It trains clarity under pressure, emotional neutrality, and decision-making in uncontrolled environments—skills drawn from real frontline experience rather than theory or sport.
This is not self-defence in the traditional sense.
It is violence prevention through psychology, awareness, and control
ENCO LEVEL 2
Instructor Development
ENCO Level 2 is a teacher training and instructor development programme.
It is designed for those who have completed Level 1 and are ready to teach the ENCO framework with clarity, accuracy, and control.
This level shifts the focus from personal understanding to effective instruction—how to communicate, demonstrate, and manage ENCO principles in real training environments.
Level 2 covers:
How to teach ENCO Level 1 concepts and structure
Coaching the psychology of pre-contact violence
Running drills and progressive learning models
Scenario design and controlled pressure testing
Teaching The Fence as a live, adaptive framework
Basic combat skills relevant to ENCO’s context
Managing safety, authority, and decision-making as an instructor
Emphasis is placed on clarity over complexity. Instructors learn how to transmit ENCO principles without theatrics, ego, or unnecessary techniques—keeping the system grounded in reality and repeatable under pressure.
Level 2 is not about producing performers.
It is about producing competent ENCO instructors who can teach violence prevention, control, and exit responsibly and consistently.
Certification at Level 2 authorises the holder to teach ENCO Level 1 under the ENCO framework.
Colin Byrne Chief Instructor & founder of ENCO
For additional details and to learn about our upcoming course, please reach out to us via email
Our Services
Focused training and protection systems rooted in discipline and real-world experience.
Enco Courses
Intensive 3-day certified self-protection training emphasizing environment and decision-making.
Shinobi Academy
Elite training camps in Lagos, Portugal, hosting professional fighters and teams.
Enco
Real-world self-protection, grounded in discipline and experience.
Contact Us
Reach out for course details, collaborations, or general enquiries.